A Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics google 2

A Beginner’s
Guide to Google
Analytics
by Ben Barden
Third
Edition
–
Updated
19/10/2014

w w w . b e n b a r d e n . c o m

Page
2

Contents
Getting
Started
......................................................................................................................................
3

Introduction
.......................................................................................................................................
3

Get
the
code
......................................................................................................................................
3

Orientation
............................................................................................................................................
4

Jargon
Buster
.....................................................................................................................................
4

Understanding
the
Graph
..................................................................................................................
5

Removing
metrics
..............................................................................................................................
7

Working
with
the
current
day
...........................................................................................................
7

Learn
About
Your
Audience
...................................................................................................................
8

Navigating
back
to
the
start
..............................................................................................................
9

Operating
System
and
more
..............................................................................................................
9

Customising
the
table
view
..............................................................................................................
10

Traffic
Sources
.....................................................................................................................................
11

Keywords
.........................................................................................................................................
12

Content
................................................................................................................................................
13

Comparing
Date
Ranges
......................................................................................................................
14

Making
a
fair
comparison
................................................................................................................
15

Visitors
Flow
........................................................................................................................................
16

Annotations
.........................................................................................................................................
18

Goals
....................................................................................................................................................
19

Thank
You
............................................................................................................................................
21


Page
3

Getting Started
Introduction
Google
Analytics
is
a
free
tool
that
provides
statistics
for
your
blog
or
website.
This
guide
looks
at

some
of
the
basics
to
help
you
get
started
with
this
handy
tool.

Get the code
You’ll
need
to
create
a
Google
Analytics
account,
and
set
up
your
tracking
code.

Refer
to
the
“Get
started
with
Analytics”
guide
–
follow
the
instructions
in
step
1
and
step
3.
Make

sure
you
follow
through
these
steps
within
Google
Analytics
and
copy
the
code
that
you
are
given
–

don’t
copy
the
code
displayed
in
the
guide.
You’re
looking
for
the
web
tracking
code
rather
than
the

mobile
tracking
code.

You
may
find
that
you
cannot
insert
the
Analytics
code
on
your
site,
particularly
if
you
have
a
hosted

website,
e.g.yourname.blogprovider.com.
In
this
case
it’s
best
to
double-‐check
with
your
website

provider
if
it’s
possible
to
use
Google
Analytics
with
them.

If
you
have
been
able
to
install
the
code
on
your
site
then
it
can
take
up
to
24
hours
before
you
have

any
statistics
to
look
at.
In
that
case,
I’d
suggest
that
you
return
to
this
eBook
in
a
day
or
two.


Page
4

Orientation
Access
Google
Analytics
here:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/

Tip:
Bookmark
this
link
so
you
can
find
it
in
future.
Ideally,
create
a
folder
in
your
Bookmarks
called

“Website
Admin”
and
store
a
link
to
Analytics
there.

Even
before
you
click
through
to
the
main
interface
of
Google
Analytics,
you
can
view
an
overview
of

your
statistics.
This
is
extremely
useful
if
you
have
multiple
sites.
Click
the
“Show
Metrics”
button,

top
left.

Click
on
the
name
of
your
site
to
start
looking
at
your
stats.

Jargon Buster
Before
we
get
into
the
screens,
let’s
go
over
a
few
of
the
technical
terms
used
within
Analytics.

Term
What
it
means

Visits
A
visit
occurs
when
someone
finds
your
site.
Each
time
someone
comes
to

your
site,
it
counts
as
1
visit.
The
same
person
can
generate
many
visits
if

they
come
to
your
site
many
times.

Unique
visitors
The
number
of
different
people
who
visited
your
site
within
a
given
time

period.

Pageviews
Whenever
someone
views
a
page
on
your
site,
such
as
the
home
page
or

one
blog
post,
it
counts
as
one
page
view.
If
the
person
then
looks
at

another
page,
that
will
count
as
an
additional
page
view.

Pages
/
Visit
This
shows
how
many
pages
people
are
looking
at
when
they
visit.

Example:
If
a
site
has
5,000
visits
and
10,000
pageviews,
that’s
an
average

of
2
pages
per
visit.
5,000
visits
and
5,000
pageviews
would
give
an
average

of
1
page
per
visit.

Avg.
Visit
Duration
The
average
time
that
each
visit
lasted
on
your
site,
in
minutes
and

seconds.

Bounce
Rate
The
percentage
of
people
who
visited
your
site
and
immediately
moved
on

without
looking
at
any
other
pages.
A
bounce
rate
of
100%
would
mean

that
everyone
who
found
your
site
left
without
clicking
anywhere
else
on

your
site.
The
lower
the
bounce
rate,
the
better.

%
New
Visits
How
many
visits
came
from
people
who
found
your
site
for
the
first
time.


Page
5

Understanding the Graph

The
graph
is
displayed
on
all
of
the
main
screens
within
Google
Analytics,
so
it’s
worth
getting

acquainted
with
it.
By
default,
the
graph
shows
“All
Visits”.
Each
circle
on
the
graph
represents
a

day.
Hover
over
a
circle
to
see
more
information.

In
the
top-‐right
corner
of
the
graph
you’ll
see
a
date
range.
Click
the
arrow
on
the
right-‐hand
side
to

expand
the
options.
To
change
the
date
range,
you
can
click
on
the
calendar,
or
type
in
the
date

range
boxes.

When
you’ve
selected
the
date
range
you
wish
to
use,
click
on
the
Apply
button
and
the
graph
will

be
updated.
Or
click
on
the
Cancel
link
to
go
back
to
where
you
were
before.


Page
6

Changing
the
date
range
is
a
really
good
way
to
analyse
your
statistics
over
many
months.
Also,
if

you
move
to
other
screens
in
Analytics,
the
date
range
will
be
remembered.

Let’s
customise
the
graph
to
show
something
other
than
Visits.
At
the
top
you’ll
see
the
following

icon:

Click
the
arrow
on
the
left
to
change
the
metric.

First,
click
on
the
“All
Visits”
box
to
deselect
it.
Now
click
on
“New
Users”,
followed
by
“Returning

Users”.
Then
click
Apply.


Page
7

Here’s
the
result.
Notice
how
the
circles
at
the
top
have
changed
to
show
a
percentage
of
each

metric
within
the
graph.
And
you
now
have
two
lines
on
the
graph,
instead
of
just
one.

You
can
also
see
New
vs
Returning
by
using
the
left
navigation
links
and
going
to
Audience
–

Behaviour
–
New
vs.
Returning.

There’s
a
lesson
to
be
learned
here
in
comparing
new
and
returning
users.
From
the
graph,
I
can
see

that
my
blog
is
mostly
attracting
new
users
–
so
it’s
not
doing
a
very
good
job
of
getting
people
to

come
back.
That’s
a
different
discussion
entirely
–
but
it’s
important
to
be
able
to
extract
this
kind
of

insight
from
Google
Analytics.

Removing metrics
To
remove
one
of
the
metrics,
click
the
“x”
next
to
it.
Or
go
into
the
menu
again,
and
choose

different
metrics
to
compare.

If
you
want
to
get
back
to
All
Visits
quickly,
click
“x”
next
to
any
other
metrics
and
All
Visits
will

reappear
when
the
last
metric
is
removed.
Handy!

Try
comparing
some
other
metrics,
and
see
what
else
you
can
learn
about
your
blog.

Working with the current day
Google
Analytics
shows
the
last
30
days
of
stats.
However,
it
usually
excludes
today.
You
can
easily

include
today
by
changing
the
date
rate.

However,
if
you
have
a
date
range
ending
on
the
current
day,
it
may
look
like
you
have
a
lot
less

activity
than
normal.
Just
remember
that
unless
you’re
looking
at
your
stats
at
11:59pm,
today
isn’t

over
yet.
Furthermore,
Analytics
may
not
record
your
stats
instantly
(although
it
does
a
pretty
good

job).

So
be
careful
when
working
with
the
current
day.


Page
8

Learn About Your Audience
In
the
navigation
menu
on
the
left,
you’ll
find
several
links
that
will
help
you
find
about
more
about

the
people
visiting
your
site.
To
get
started,
click
on
Audience
–
Technology
–
Browser
and
OS.

The
first
table
shows
the
number
of
visits
with
different
browsers.
As
you
can
see,
Chrome
is
top
of

the
list
for
my
blog,
followed
by
Firefox,
Internet
Explorer,
and
Safari.
Larger
sites
may
find
this
very

useful
–
for
instance
if
you
have
a
very
large
number
of
people
using
Safari,
you’ll
want
to
make
sure

you
test
any
changes
to
your
site
in
Safari
if
you
don’t
already
do
so.

You
can
learn
more
about
the
different
versions
of
each
browser
by
clicking
on
the
browser
name.

For
the
next
screenshot,
I
clicked
Internet
Explorer.

If
you’ve
ever
wondered
“can
I
drop
support
for
IE
version
7
or
8?”
–
here’s
the
very
table
that
will

show
you.
In
web
development
circles,
people
may
have
all
but
given
up
on
the
oldest
versions
of
IE.

However,
it’s
very
important
to
understand
how
many
users
are
on
an
old
browser
version
before

you
decide
to
stop
supporting
it.
A
tiny
blog
with
1000
visitors
per
month
and
only
5
visits
in
IE7

might
be
a
no-‐brainer
–
but
a
huge
website
with
millions
of
people
still
using
IE7
will
be
more

difficult.


Page
9

Navigating back to the start
It’s
at
this
point
that
Analytics
makes
life
a
bit
difficult
for
us.
How
on
earth
do
you
get
back
to
the

previous
screen?
Well,
you
need
to
scroll
back
to
the
top
–
above
the
graph
–
and
click
the
tiny
“ALL”

link.

Alternatively,
to
view
another
browser,
use
the
little
dropdown
to
the
right
of
Internet
Explorer.
You

could
also
click
on
one
of
the
version
numbers
shown
in
the
table
to
drill-‐down
into
your
audience
a

little
further.
(Two
screenshots
below,
side
by
side
–
in
case
you
wondered!)

This
shows
that
25%
of
all
visits
were
using
Firefox,
while
only
0.65%
of
visits
were
using
Firefox
24.

Operating System and more
Now,
let’s
go
back
to
the
original
table.
Across
the
top
there
are
some
links
–
you
can
see
more
than

just
the
browser.
You
can
look
at
the
Operating
System,
Screen
Resolution,
Screen
Colours,
Flash

Version,
and
“Other”
(which
is
just
Java
Support
for
now).
I
found
Screen
Resolution
to
be
quite

interesting.
How
big
a
screen
do
your
users
have?

If
you
thought
the
Operating
System
was
interesting
but
wanted
to
see
more
than
just
iOS
or

Android,
use
the
left
navigation
to
browse
to
Audience
–
Mobile.
There’s
an
overview
that
shows
%

split
between
desktop,
mobile
and
tablet.
You
can
also
click
Devices
to
view
much
more
specific

information
about
what
people
use
to
browse
your
site.


Page
10

Customising the table view
Why
not
see
your
desktop/mobile/tablet
split
in
a
pie
chart?
Simply
go
to
Audience
–
Mobile
–

Overview
and
click
the
little
pie
chart
button.
It’s
the
second
icon
along,
next
to
Advanced.

Et
voila!

This
would
be
a
good
opportunity
for
you
to
have
a
closer
look
at
some
of
the
screens
we
just
went

through.
Try
these:

1. Show
Screen
Resolution
as
a
pie
chart.

2. Show
Browser
as
a
pie
chart.

3. On
the
Browser
pie
chart,
use
the
“contribution
to
total”
dropdown
and
choose

“Pageviews”.

If
you’re
ready
to
move
on,
let’s
go!


Page
11

Traffic Sources
Traffic
Sources
show
you
how
people
are
finding
your
site.
There
are
four
traffic
sources:

Source
What
it
is

Search
Traffic
If
someone
searches
for
a
particular
type
of
content,
your
site
comes
up
in
the

results
and
they
click
the
link
to
your
site,
it
will
be
listed
here.

Referral
Traffic
If
another
website
links
to
a
page
on
your
site
and
someone
clicks
the
link,
that

site
will
be
listed
as
a
referring
site.

Direct
Traffic
This
refers
to
the
people
who
typed
the
address
of
your
site
manually,
or
clicked

a
link
in
their
browser
favourites.

Campaigns
Traffic
from
custom
campaigns.
This
used
to
be
called
“Other”
–
it
is
now
more

descriptive.

To
view
traffic
sources,
click
on
Traffic
Sources
–
Sources
–
All
Traffic
in
the
left
navigation.
Don’t

bother
with
the
Traffic
Sources
overview
–
it’s
not
very
useful.

This
shows
all
of
your
traffic
sources.
If
you
just
want
to
show
sources
of
a
certain
type,
go
back
to

the
left
navigation
links.
For
instance,
try
the
Referrals
link.

You
can
reorder
the
list
by
clicking
the
column
headers.
For
instance,
you
can
click
on
“Avg
Visit

Duration”
to
display
the
sites
that
generated
visits
where
people
stayed
the
longest.
You
can
also

display
the
sites
that
generated
the
highest
bounce
rate.
To
sort
in
reverse
order
(lowest
to
highest),

click
on
the
column
heading
twice
(wait
for
it
to
load
between
the
clicks
–
don’t
double-‐click
it).

If
you
go
to
Referrals,
look
for
the
“Landing
Page”
link
above
the
table,
next
to
Primary
Dimension.

This
will
show
you
which
pages
had
the
most
traffic
from
referrals.


Page
12

Keywords
You
can
see
search
keywords
by
going
to
Traffic
Sources
–
Sources
–
Search
–
Organic.

Keywords
are
individual
words
or
phrases
that
you
type
into
a
search
engine
to
find
the
sites
you

want
to
visit.
In
Google
Analytics,
the
Keywords
page
shows
you
which
words
or
phrases
brought

people
to
your
site.

If
you
don’t
see
the
words
or
phrases
you
think
people
should
be
searching
for
to
find
your
site,
you

may
have
to
do
a
bit
of
search
engine
optimisation.

The
thing
to
remember
is
that
there
will
always
be
other
sites
for
people
to
visit,
and
even
the
“best-‐
optimised”
sites
cannot
guarantee
success
by
optimisation
alone.

Start
by
writing
great
content.
Optimisation
is
worth
looking
into,
but
there’s
not
much
point

spending
time
on
it
if
you
aren’t
writing
content
that
people
would
want
to
read.
It’s
a
case
of

getting
your
priorities
straight.


Page
13

Content
Click
on
Content
–
Site
Content
–
All
Pages
to
see
the
most
viewed
content
on
your
site
within
the

last
30
days,
or
whichever
time
period
you
choose.

Try
sorting
the
table
by
Bounce
Rate
(click
on
the
column
header).
You
can
now
choose
the

“Weighted”
option
under
Sort
Type
for
a
more
useful
result
set.

So
instead
of
the
100%
bounce
rates
with
only
1
entrance
at
the
top
of
the
list,
you
should
now
see

the
pages
with
the
biggest
overall
number
of
people
bouncing
away.


Page
14

Comparing Date Ranges
If
you
want
to
compare
traffic
for
two
different
periods
of
time,
here’s
how
you
do
it.

Go
to
Content
–
Overview
and
open
up
the
date
range
in
the
top
right
corner.
We’re
going
to

compare
the
stats
for
June
2013
and
July
2013.

Choose
the
date
range
as
normal,
starting
with
the
later
date
range.
Instead
of
clicking
Apply,
click

Compare
to
Past.

This
used
to
require
you
to
choose
both
date
ranges
manually,
but
now
it
auto-‐selects
the
same

number
of
days
immediately
before
the
start
of
the
range
you
select.
Cool!
If
all
looks
good,
click

Apply
to
see
the
results.

The
legend
above
the
graph
shows
which
line
corresponds
to
each
date
range.
Beneath
the
graph,

some
figures
will
show
you
how
the
site
has
changed
in
these
time
periods.

Although
the
stats
aren’t
wildly
different,
you
can
see
pageviews
are
up,
but
time
on
page
is
down.


Page
15

You
can
click
on
one
of
the
icons
under
the
graph
to
view
more
about
that
stat.
For
instance,
here’s

a
bounce
rate
comparison.

And
if
you
want
to
get
clever,
why
not
change
the
metric
from
All
Visits
to
Referral
Traffic?
This

shows
you
the
bounce
rate
just
for
referral
traffic,
just
for
the
date
ranges
you
chose
to
compare.

Although
this
may
not
be
the
best
example
as
the
graph
is
quite
similar
to
the
one
before,
this
shows

how
you
can
combine
various
different
metrics
to
build
new
graphs.

Making a fair comparison
It’s
usually
easier
to
analyse
your
stats
if
you
think
week
to
week
and
month
to
month.
To
compare

statistics,
you
have
to
think
about
what
you’re
comparing.
Otherwise,
it’s
like
comparing
two
weeks'

worth
of
comments
when
you
wrote
3
posts
one
week
and
7
posts
the
next.
It’s
not
a
fair

comparison.
Level
the
playing
field,
and
the
comparison
makes
sense.


Page
16

Visitors Flow
Under
the
Audience
link
on
the
left-‐hand
side,
the
Visitors
Flow
screen
gives
an
interesting
look
at

how
people
find
your
site,
the
path
they
take
from
that
page
onwards,
and
how
many
drop
off
along

the
way.
Here’s
an
example.

Hovering
over
each
of
the
boxes
shows
you
how
many
people
are
dropping
off.
This
is
a
big

opportunity
for
optimisation.

For
instance,
on
my
blog,
a
lot
of
people
start
on
the
page
where
you
can
download
this
very
eBook

–
but
most
drop
off
after
getting
the
eBook.
However,
this
isn’t
truly
representative
–
Analytics

won’t
show
people
who
come
back
to
the
blog
later,
having
read
the
eBook.

A
better
page
to
look
at
would
be
“/”,
which
is
the
homepage.
You
can
try
to
reduce
the
drop-‐off

rate
by
showcasing
your
best
content
on
your
homepage,
cleaning
up
a
cluttered
layout,
showing

content
excerpts,
or
linking
to
your
archives
at
the
bottom
of
the
newest
post
list.
It
really
depends

on
your
site.


Page
17

Next
to
“Country/Territory”
there’s
a
dropdown
where
you
can
choose
a
different
metric.
One
you

might
find
useful
is
the
Social
metric.
Browse
to
Social
–
Social
Network
to
find
this.

To
filter
by
social
network,
click
on
the
network
you
wish
to
filter
by,
and
select
“View
only
this

segment”.

To
go
back,
click
the
Visitors
Flow
link
at
the
top.

You
can
also
click
on
the
lines
connecting
each
box
together
to
highlight
a
path.


Page
18

Annotations
Annotations
are
very
simple,
but
can
really
help
if
you
want
to
understand
more
about
why
your

traffic
changed
on
a
given
day.

The
idea
is
that
whenever
you
make
a
notable
change
to
your
site,
you
should
add
an
annotation.

They
are
less
useful
if
you
use
them
for
anything
and
everything.
Reserve
annotations
for
when
they

really
matter.

To
create
an
annotation,
look
for
the
little
arrow
underneath
each
graph.
Click
on
this,
then
click

“Create
new
annotation”.

Type
a
description
into
the
box,
and
click
Save.

You
can
also
try
clicking
on
one
of
the
circles
on
the
graph.
Click
it
twice
to
highlight
it,
then
click
it

again
to
create
an
annotation.

Once
added,
you’ll
be
able
to
see
annotations
by
looking
at
the
little
icon
on
the
line
that
runs
across

the
bottom
of
the
graph.


Page
19

Goals
Goals
are
used
to
track
conversions
in
Google
Analytics.
To
get
started,
click
the
Admin
link
in
the

top-‐right
corner.
Make
sure
you’re
working
with
the
correct
site,
and
click
the
Goals
link
I’ve
so

crudely
highlighted
in
the
screenshot
below.

On
the
next
page,
click
“Create
a
Goal”.
There
are
a
few
different
types
of
goal;
let’s
stick
with
a

simple
one
for
now.
Give
your
goal
a
name
of
“Goal
Test”,
click
“Destination”,
and
click
Next
Step.


Page
20

Find
a
page
on
your
blog
that
you’d
like
to
track.
I’m
going
to
try
the
Google
Analytics
eBook
page.

Note
that
you
need
to
exclude
your
domain
name
from
the
link
–
so
the
link
I
would
use
is
below:

/bonus-‐content/free-‐ebook-‐a-‐beginners-‐guide-‐to-‐google-‐analytics/

This
goes
into
the
Destination
field.
You
can
also
click
the
Verify
link
to
see
what
the
conversion
rate

would
be,
based
on
your
current
site
data.
If
you’re
using
an
existing
page
for
a
goal
(rather
than
a

brand
new
page)
this
is
a
good
way
to
check
you’ve
done
everything
correctly.

Now
click
“Create
Goal”
to
set
up
the
goal.

You
can
now
track
your
goal
in
the
“Conversions”
link
within
the
main
Google
Analytics
interface.

Click
“Reporting”
at
the
top
to
get
out
of
the
Admin
section.


Page
21

Thank You
If
you
enjoyed
this
eBook,
please
pass
it
around.
All
I
ask
is
that
you
don’t
edit
it
or
pass
it
off
as
your

own.
If
you
are
passing
the
eBook
to
your
friends,
please
leave
my
name
and
website
link
intact.

Thanks
for
reading
this
eBook!

Ben
Barden

A Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics google 2

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